A wide range of support offers are available to HPI founder teams. Budding entrepreneurs are optimally supervised during the startup process — whether it be through individual coachings or the provision of infrastructure and capital.

HPI offers its aspiring entrepreneurs exciting events in conjunction with partners from industry and science. These events provide the ideal framework for networking with other founders and experts from the entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Excellent courses in entrepreneurship

Within the framework of the IT-Systems Engineering study program, HPI offers its students courses in the field of entrepreneurship to teach the core competencies necessary to found and develop a business.

Practical knowledge about the process of business creation

The course offering in the area of entrepreneurship address the special challenges of establishing a business in the IT sector. Topic-experienced instructors also impart important methodological and managerial competencies to students in the Master's program. The aspiring computer scientists receive the prerequisite knowledge to found a competitive company with their own business idea.

The transfer of practical knowledge is of central importance. In guest talks, startup entrepreneurs give practical insight into the process of setting up a business and share their personal experiences. Students also receive targeted training in the crucial soft skills needed to successfully carry out the activities of an aspiring entrepreneur, such as creativity and communication and presentation skills.

Overview of the courses

IT-Entrepreneurship – Spin-out Track (Winter Semester)

In winter semester 2016/2017, the E-School is planning to hold for the first time a practice-oriented IT entrepreneurship seminar in the form of a “spin-out track.” The participating Master students will work in teams on IT problems that are presented to them by their project partners. The goal is for the students—in cooperation with their project partner—to develop the practical problem into a business idea, which will then be tested and evaluated. On the basis of the test results, a business model for founding a startup will be worked out. Via the E-School team, typical, related topics in entrepreneurship (business model canvas, lean startup, etc.) will be presented and elaborated in workshops.

The end of the course also presents an opportunity to consider how the developed business model can be implemented with the project partner, for instance in the form of a spin-off. The primary goal is to guide students through the topics of founding a company based on a practical problem. Thus equipped with the relevant store of knowledge and experience, they will later be able to implement the jointly developed business model or their own business idea. We also aim to motivate HPI students to think more entrepreneurially.

Unternehmensgründung im IT-Sektor (Summer Semester)

The students are introduced to the topic of founding a company through practical learning, where they deal with the fundamental questions of entrepreneurship and self-employment. All relevant aspects of founding a company in the special environment of information technology are introduced and implemented by the students in their own work. The complete process of company-founding is carried out — from finding the idea though developing a prototype (the so-called Minimum Viable Products [MVP]). At the same time, participants work on developing a business model, communication strategy, and financing concept. In 3-member teams, the students develop an initial business idea and specify it, while continually presenting their interim results throughout the process.

Prof. Dr. Katharina Hölzle is Chair of the Department of Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship at the University of Potsdam. Previously she held a junior professorship sponsored by Deutsche Telekom at the Technical University of Berlin. She wrote her doctoral dissertation on career models for project managers of large and mid-size companies. Before earning her PhD, Katharina worked five years in various positions in the semiconductor industry, strategic management consulting, and in a startup company. Her current research interests focus on innovation barriers and how these can be overcome, “open innovation,” and the strategy and organization of innovation.

In addition to her research and teaching activities at the University of Potsdam, the HPI School of Design Thinking, and in diverse executive study disciplines, she consults companies on topics of strategic innovation and technology management.

Katharina finds grounding in her family, gardening, and volunteer work in different projects devoted to children and teenagers in Babelsberg.

Management Essentials

This event provides an overview of the five classic management functions: planning, control, organization, leadership, and personal engagement. Management abilities allow for a better understanding of the work in an organization. Besides the classic management topics, we will also discuss the current key themes, such as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), stakeholder value vs. shareholder value orientation, new leadership approaches, and the increasing importance of team work and generating synergies in heterogeneous teams. Participants become familiar with important management functions and then apply their knowledge working through case studies.

Prof. Dr. Eric Kearney has been professor for management, organization, and personnel at the University of Potsdam since 2014. From 2009–2014 he held a professorship in the department of Organizational Behavior & Human Resource Management at the School of Economics and Management at Leibniz University, Hanover. He has taught at numerous German and international universities and business schools (among them the Free University, Berlin; the Technical University of Berlin; Humboldt University, Berlin; Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; Krannert School of Management / Purdue University; Central European University, Budapest; FGV, Rio de Janeiro; Universidad de Chile, Santiago de Chile). His research in the areas of leadership and team management has appeared in leading professional publications worldwide. In this research area, the focus is essentially on how leadership and teamwork can encourage the performance and satisfaction of members of the organization. Through regular cooperation with organizations from different contexts and industries, the questions investigated reflect a high degree of practical relevance.